Scrapbooking beginner

Jenwales_2

I want to make three scrapbooks for my daughter. One for her year at nursery a birthday one and once I've gained in confidence her first year
I've got a free photo app. And bought some bits(one scrapbook papers and odd embellishments) from The Works but there's not much there right now. I don't have many shops by me
Looking for tips and advice. Especially because I'm not really great at stuff like this. Glue recommendations and advice on how to do this on a budget
Thanks 😁

Misslayed

My cousin is a keen scrap booker/journaller. She uses a lot of paper napkins as backgrounds, just splits the pattered side from the ‘backing piece’ of 2ply napkins relevant to her project. She always takes an interesting one with her! She also makes little envelope like pockets out of interesting card (eg a birthday card), then puts something interesting in it eg a photograph. She has glued in scraps of fabric, buttons, anything with a memory attached. I think once you get your ‘eye in’, you will soon have a stash of materials! Look for YouTube tutorials too. 

Katiehound

I have made probably hundreds of cards over the years and I really love Zig 2 way glue pens. You only need a very fine line of glue to hold paper- when wet it is visible so you can see where you put it, then  it dries clear. Not the cheapest but it lasts a long time. I always buy the chisel tip style.

For free coloured papers ask folk to save coloured envelopes & backs of cards.

See if there is a class near you- just one class will give you loads of ideas.

look in charity shops too see if they have any scrapbook / card making magazines

Join the local library & borrow suitable books for free

Ms_Dee

Oh I love a crafty project! This sounds lovely, I hope you manage to get them done, this would be amazing keepsakes.

I would first suggest joining local free sites or Facebook groups - you can often get some great free items on there which might be suitable...
Freebay Free section
Gumtree Free section
Shpock Free section
Preloved Freeloved section
OLIO app
Freegle
Freelywheely
Freecycle
and more...

You can even look for 'bundles' on secondhand websites/sale sites, you'll often get a lot more for your money. Unless you don't want to waste money on items you might not use them you should just buy what you want and need for a project. But I love a rummage and it's often cheaper this way and you can pass on anything you won't use.

Ideally you want to use Acid & Lignin-free items, those that are made for paper craft generally are automatically now. But this is why you don't always want to use some of the vague websites or cheap, cheap items just in case. This is as scrapbook age, people found that their pages may discolour, turn yellow and even brittle, including their photos. Therefore they found this didn't happen with Acid and Lignin free papers and embellishments etc. 

My 2 favourite places to shop for cheaper but still decent items tend to be The Works and The Range. 
My favourite brand of papers are 'First Edition' they can be quite pricey considering it's paper, but it is beautful quality and loads of beautiful designs. If you search 'first edition paper pads for scrapbooking' on a search engine, hopefully you can see what I mean.
My favourite craft brands to order from and use generally with paper craft is Crafter's Companion and Hunkydory again for quality products and useful tools.

Glue wise I prefer to use double sided tape and foam pads, no drying time and slippage. If you want extra strong tape the red liner, double sided tape is super strong, it's clear tape but the roll looks red. 
If you know anyone that does 'diamond art' They will usually have lots of spare craft dots/diamonds, many people won't have any use for the spares, but they make great accents/embellishments on cards or scrapbooks.

If you are looking for inspiration then Pinterest will be your best friend!
Use searches such as: 
scrapbook layout sketches
scrapbook page inspiration
or be more specific such as: first day at nursery scrapbook page.
Pinterest is full of ideas, as detailed or as simple as you like.

I'm not sure if Hobbymaker TV channel has anyone Scrapbooking shows, but they are great for Craft items, especially at the moment as loads of Sales in January as it is a new year, new hobby month! If you order something earlier on in the day and see something else you like that evening, it is only 1 postage cost a day which is amazing. I'll often watch the shows, check their website to find new items but also look around for the products, sometimes it is cheaper to go direct but it is the postage costs which can usually add up from elsewhere.

A guillotine or/and paper trimmer are always worth the purchase - it will help you to cut in a straight line and it will look so much neater and professional.

Also worth checking your local library or area for craft sessions, you could bounce ideas off each other.

I've actually found a couple of great crafters via Twitch and Discord.
Twitch have a Creative section now which includes 'Makers & Crafting' you can watch crafters and interact with them in the comments etc.

I'm more than happy to try and help if I can, so feel free to message me if you want to know anything specific and don't get a response here.

Best of luck!

kiss_me_now9

I would thoroughly recommend going on youtube - there's a huge crafting community on there and if you put in "Scrapbook layout" or "Scrapbook with me" you'll absolutely find hundreds of videos of people showing you how they do there's which you can use as inspiration (or tbh, just do exactly what they do - who will know?!).

I've always wanted to do something like this - Project Life is a brand but it's a much more simple form of scrapbooking and this lady has demonstrated how you can do it on a shoestring perfectly!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnr4ggxCnBc&ab_channel=CreativeKarmaDesign